EtherPK User Docs

Your First Graph

Twenty minutes from an empty graph to a journal entry, a page, a link between them, a task, and finding it all again. Everything here works the same in a local graph, a synced graph and the demo.

1. Open a graph

Open the app and go to Knowledge graphs. Then either:

  • select Open folder (Local Graph) and pick an empty folder, on a desktop in Chrome, Edge or Brave; or
  • select New synced graph, once you are signed in to Managed Sync or connected to a server (Synced Graphs); or
  • select Try the demo, in any browser.

The graph opens on today's journal entry, with the Graph sidebar on the left and Backlinks on the right. Choosing Where Your Notes Live explains the choice if you want it before you start.

2. Write the day

Today's entry is empty, so it is a draft: it becomes a real document the moment you type.

Type a dash and a space, then a first thought:

- Started keeping notes in EtherPK

Press Enter for the next bullet. Press Tab to nest a bullet under the one above, and Shift+Tab to bring it back out. Write a few lines about the day; there is nothing to save, because the entry is written as you type.

3. Make a page

Something in the day will deserve a page of its own: a project, a person, a topic. Type two square brackets around it:

- Kicked off the [[Garden Redesign]] with Sidney

As you type the name after [[, a menu offers existing names; press Enter or Tab to finish the link, or type ]] yourself. The link is underlined with a dashed line, because no page called Garden Redesign exists yet.

Click the link. A page opens, empty, with the journal entry listed in the Backlinks panel on the right as the one place that mentions it. Type a line into it, and the page exists. Press the browser's Back button to return to the journal, and the link is now a solid underline.

4. Add a task

Back in the journal, make a bullet a task with Ctrl+Shift+Enter (Cmd+Shift+Enter on a Mac), or type it:

- [ ] Sketch the beds for the [[Garden Redesign]]

Type # after the checkbox for a menu of tags: choose Priority 1, then Due date… and pick a day. Press Alt+T to open the Tasks view on the right. The task is there, grouped under P1, and ticking it there ticks it in the journal. See Tasks.

5. Find it again

  • Press Alt+F and type beds. Search finds the line inside the journal entry; Enter opens it at that line.
  • Start typing garden in the Quick find box at the top of the sidebar. The page is offered as you type; Enter opens it.
  • Open the Garden Redesign page and look at its Backlinks panel: every line in the graph that mentions it, with the bullets around it.
  • Right-click the page's tab and choose Add to favourites. It is now one click away in the sidebar.

See The Graph Sidebar, Search and Backlinks.

6. Add a picture

Drag an image from your desktop onto the journal entry, or press Ctrl+V with a screenshot on the clipboard. It shows inline, made smaller on the way in, and is stored with the graph (Images And Files).

7. Look at the file

If you chose a local graph, open the folder you picked. You will find journals/ with today's date as a file name, pages/Garden Redesign.md, assets/ with the picture, and an AGENTS.md that describes the folder to coding agents. Open the journal file in any text editor: it is the markdown you typed, nothing more (Graph Folder Layout).

If you chose a synced graph, the notes are encrypted on the server and cached in this browser. Settings > Mirror keeps a readable copy in a folder if you want one (Keeping A Local Copy Of A Synced Graph).

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